Yes, Americans DO Want Legalized Online Poker

This year marked the 5th anniversary of Black Friday. When PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker were forced to exit the US market in 2011, the future of online poker in the US looked very bleak. Attention spans in the internet age are notoriously fleeting, and it seemed as though poker was destined to be nothing more than a fad that was replaced by the next big thing.

But that doomsday prediction hasn’t come to pass. While it’s certainly true that the popularity of the game is not what it once was, it’s simply flat-out wrong to say that Americans don’t have online poker on their radar. It’s an industry currently sitting at a low simmer that is ready to explode at any moment.

And that’s why, when I read a piece that ran this month on Huffpost Business claiming that “Most American’s Don’t Want Legalized Online Poker,” all I could think of was a single word: FALSE.

In response, here are five reasons why Americans most certainly DO want legalized online poker:

#1 Government regulation will ensure deposits are safe

The article argues that regulated poker will invite taxation and IRS scrutiny on winnings that players do not want. Of course, it’s low-hanging fruit to say something as basic as “people don’t want to pay taxes”. The reality is that the discontent will be completely dwarfed in importance by the increase in security those tax dollars will indirectly buy. A lack of trust in how sites handle money was the biggest danger Black Friday posed to online poker. With regulation, players don’t need to worry about their winnings being paid out. For Americans who had bankrolls locked up for years, taxes are a small price to pay to have that peace of mind.

#2 Softer games

Playing in an unregulated poker game on the internet means that you are sitting down at the (virtual) table with people willing to play in an unregulated poker game on the internet. While the occasional whale will show up, the vast majority of this kind of player pool will without a doubt have at least some understanding of poker strategy. On the other hand, regulated games would attract many more recreational gamblers that don’t take poker seriously and are just looking to blow off some steam. I don’t need to do a scientific poll to know which games Americans would prefer to be playing in.

#3 More Sponsorship Opportunities

The only thing better than playing poker for a living is getting paid a ton of money by a large corporation to look like you play poker for a living. Celebrity is a huge part of American culture. The poker boom started when “everyman” Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP Main Event because the idea that you could potentially become a celebrity overnight is intoxicating. Today, those corporate sponsorships have all but vanished because the game is not visible online where they key 18-30 advertising demographic is. A large regulated online poker market in the US - even if it didn’t encompass every state - would change that, reinvigorating an essential appeal of the poker culture that is currently lying dormant.

#4 Politicians in several large states won’t stop talking about online poker regulation

Three states already have legalized online poker, and advanced discussions are currently being held in both the California and Pennsylvania legislatures. Politicians only respond to two things, money and votes. The fact that poker legislation is moving forward is the proof that it has both. American poker players have an entire lobby - the Poker Players Alliance - that is dedicated to making sure that politicians in as many states as possible understand how much tax revenue regulated online poker could bring into state coffers. Although the goal is still far from being achieved, there simply would not be so much discussion going on right now about regulation around the nation if there wasn’t strong grassroots support for it.

#5 NJ is already supporting several poker sites

Finally, the article conveniently fails to mention the fact that the small state of New Jersey is already successfully supporting three poker networks. Borgata/Party, WSOP/888, and now PokerStars are all doing well enough in the market that they haven’t decided to exit it. It’s simply impossible that an American state of only 9 million people, with a ring-fenced market, could do that if there wasn’t legitimate interest. Regulation, combined with shared liquidity between several large states would quickly bring an American player pool to a critical mass. A snowball effect could then easily occur, causing exponential growth that would bring poker back into the lives of Americans who haven’t had access to it for over five years now.

It’s true that regulated online poker in the United States still faces many hurdles to becoming a reality, but there’s a reason we are on the verge of a political breakthrough, and it isn’t because Americans don’t want it.